MANILA, Philippines—Talented and gorgeous Katherine Heigl follows up her praiseworthy turn in the oddball comedy “Knocked Up” with yet another lovable pushover role in “27 Dresses.” The rom-com benefits from her involvement, adding sheen to an otherwise rehashed romance yarn. The “Grey’s Anatomy” actress has lit up practically everything she’s appeared in, and “27 Dresses” is especially graced by her “smart babe” presence.
She plays Jane, an eternal bridesmaid who’s helped many of her friends organize their perfect weddings. She’s accumulated 27 bridesmaid dresses in a short span, the diverse and colorful collection easily filling up one big closet. She inevitably attracts the attention of wedding section reporter Kevin (James Marsden), an efficient but creatively unsatisfied writer. He sees her as an interesting conundrum that just may be his ticket out of the wedding beat.
Jane has harbored a longtime attraction to her activist-vegetarian boss, George (Edward Burns), but as fate would have it, he notices—and pursues—her clueless visiting sister Tess (Malin Akerman) instead.
Standard plot
You just know how “27 Dresses” unfolds, given those pretty standard circumstances. Plot-wise, there really aren’t a lot of routes to explore; the story’s accessible but it follows overused romantic comedy axioms and themes. When Tess lies to George at the start of their relationship, you can bet that the deception will cost them eventually.
Jealousy turns sweet, martyr-like Jane into a spiteful saboteur, too, someone who’s not beyond ruining her sister’s happiness. It’s just full of rote dilemmas, and more than a few lovesick characters find themselves betrayed at exactly the expected moment.
But it’s still a funny script by “Devil Wears Prada” screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. Jane is written as an amiable, daydreaming 20-something whose love for weddings is made clear early on. Her sweetness and sentimentality are made more obvious and defined by the presence of the token best friend character, Casey (the gifted Judy Greer), who’s hilariously frank. The dialogue is witty; Jane’s and Kevin’s alternating combative and trusting bond further fleshes out Jane’s personality and intentions, too.
Smart but dense
Most of the characters are written as smart, but strangely, each of them becomes glaringly dense at the wrong time. George fails to pick up on hints that Tess is a liar; Tess doesn’t sense Jane’s obvious, overwhelming feelings for George; Jane chooses to prolong her agony by not telling her sister how she really feels about her boss. Well, if they were perfect, there’d be no story to tell. But in this case, those scenarios could’ve been told more creatively.
It’s hard not to roll your eyes at the lengthy charades, or even at Jane’s and Kevin’s drunken karaoke session scene. Well, that’s cute and a bit cringe-worthy. Marsden and Heigl look good together and have chemistry, so that’s forgivable. There’s cuteness overload guaranteed by the attractive cast, all good actors who do well in these sure, safe roles.
Yes, “27 Dresses” is a typical date movie that espouses the common thought that happy endings do come, but not necessarily how people might expect them. And Heigl is believable and very much worth watching in it, story missteps and familiarity aside.
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